Game Report

After a dismal display in Manitoba on Sunday, dropping a 5-2 game to the Moose which saw Michael McNiven chased from the net after two period, the Laval Rocket looked to get even on Tuesday night for the rematch.

McNiven, to his credit, looked calm and solid in net early in the first period. The Moose were forechecking hard and getting many more shots on net, but the netminder stood tall. No penalties were called in the first 15 minutes, and there were few stoppages.

Late in the period, Laval found a spark and Matt Taormina took the puck down low behind the net, feeding it out to Antoine Waked in the circle. Waked potted his second goal of the season and put his team on the board 1-0.

The second period seemed to be going the same way as the first, until a hooking call on Yannick Veilleux turned the tables. The struggling Laval penalty kill was undressed in the first few seconds with Mike Sgarbossa firing the puck past McNiven from the slot. Just 42 seconds later, he repeated the process with a laser shot from the point to put the Moose up 2-1.

After an enormous scrum in front of the Laval bench later in the period, the Rocket found themselves back on the power play. Chris Terry set up shop in the right circle and found mesh on a clean shot past Eric Comrie.

The third period was one of the best 20 minutes of play that the Rocket have put on display in a while. Goaltending was dependable and came up big when needed, zone entries and exits were clean, guys were getting quality shots on net. Only one penalty, on Manitoba, was called in the period, leaving the two teams to battle it out five-on-five for much of the period.

In overtime, Laval forechecked hard and had a lot of breakaway chances, but nothing was getting through Comrie. Jakub Jerabek came close to winning it with a hard shot from the point that rang off the post.

The game finished in a shootout with Terry coming up with the only goal for Laval, while Nic Petan and Brendan Lemieux both scored for Manitoba.

With their first Winnipeg road trip under their belt, the Rocket now travel back to Quebec to prepare for their next opponent, the Utica Comets, who come to Laval for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday.

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